Trains, Buses, and Cars

Once upon a time, and not that long ago - public transportation in the UK was relatively inexpensive. In spite of the fact that it was (and still is) a bit difficult to handle baggage in the tube and at many railway stations (the Americans with Disabilities Act does not apply here) it was worth the effort. A car in London is actually a liability - there's the congestion charge, not to mention the hefty parking fees.

But then several years ago we noticed that the prices were going up. Finally, the price of a round trip train ticket from London to Manchester was almost as much as renting a car.

You can put up with traveling on someone else's timetable if you are saving a significant amount of money. But when a two week car rental is less than the price of a round trip train ticket, driving becomes a no-brainer.

The last straw came a few years ago when we had booked a train from Manchester to Essex on a Sunday afternoon. At the second stop, everyone was herded off the train and put on a bus for the rest of the journey - we're not talking about 10 minutes here. It was the entire afternoon. It was "rail maintenance" day and the trains just didn't run. - At least that one didn't. That same week, we booked a round-trip train ticket between two towns in Hertfordshire. It was a short distance and we ended up taking a taxi back instead of the train. We went to the ticket office to get a refund and the young man behind the counter suggested that we had actually used the tickets but hadn't had them validated and therefore we were not entitled to a refund. Seriously?? Do I look like I have nothing better to do with my life than try to screw British Rail out of 10 pounds?

That was it. Now we always rent a car. We can come and go without worrying about timetables. We don't pay train rates to ride a bus and the price of the car for two weeks is typically around $300. A much better deal!